Situation overview:20 September
1863 10:30am: To the north along today's Battleline Road, the Rebels
launched a heavy attack after John Breckinridge's flanking movement
failed to turn the line just east of Lafayette Road. South of the
fighting, Yankees are preparing for an all out Confederate assault.

Since September 17th General William
S. Rosecrans has been moving north along the LaFayette Road
towards the safely of Chattanooga. Although slowed to a crawl by
the advancing Confederate Army, he continued to move his men northward
while protecting against an enemy attack from the east. He had hoped
to use the strong battleline formed by Thomas' men to leapfrog a
good deal of his army closer to Chattanooga. This maneuver is complicated
under optimum conditions. It requires that a group of men withdraw
from the line, then wait while the men on either flank extend their
line to "plug the hole."

Northward movement, however, was creating a tactical
nightmare for Rosecrans' staff. It was not easy to manage the organized
movement of 50,000 soldiers, even without an opposing force within
firing distance. With the heavy attack at the north end
of the Chickamauga battlefield, and his left flank crumbling, Thomas
renewed his calls for additional support, specifically, the Third
Division, XIV Corps under the command of Brigadier General John Brannen
[US, Thomas].

Brannen had received his orders from Thomas but
was concerned because of his critical position behind the LaFayette
Road just north of the Brotherton cabin. In fact, he had issued
orders to withdraw from the line then quickly rescinded them. To
cover the hole that Brannen's movement was suppose to create Major
Frank Bond [US, Rosecrans] issued an order to Gen. Thomas Wood [US]
which read "...close up on Reynolds as fast as possible and
support him," verbatim from Rosecrans. (Rosecrans later claimed
that it had been conditional on Brannen's withdrawal.)

Wood told the courier that Brannon was right next
to him, to which the courier replied "Then there is no order,"
but Wood, who had been repeatedly chastised by Rosecrans for failure
to execute orders in a timely manner decided to obey this one. He
ordered Charles Harker to withdraw, then begin a northward move just before
11:00 am, September 20, 1863. His other brigade commanders were to follow.